Ahead of the Curve, Perhaps. Worth Reading for Sure. IMO, of Course

There are times when it seems that you're ahead of the curve, and wish you weren't. Today is one of them.

The New York Times this week has featured reviews of a film about concrete and a book about how Canadian are different from Americans.
Damn, I thought when I saw both this morning: I've written books about those subjects too--Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future and Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate Between Neighbo(u)ring States, both from University of Regina Press. They got pretty good runs when they came out in 2020 and 2019, respectively, but they certainly didn't get reviewed in the NY Times. It's as if I had a couple of ideas a few years back, and spun out my versions before the zeitgeist was ready for them.

Since Meta says I can't link to the reviews, here are the titles to Google: True North by Paul Theroux and The History of Concrete by John Wilson. The Times headline says this of Wilson's work: ‘The History of Concrete’: Forget the Title, Sit Back and Enjoy. As for Theroux's, the teaser is: Canada Is So Much More Than America’s Polite Neighbor.

They both sound very interesting, but why not check out my take on the subjects too. Available from UofRegina Press and by order from your favourite indie bookstore. University of Regina Press.

A Step Closer to The Last Bridge

 Another big day: just sent in the final (probably) revisions to my next book, a novel called The Last Bridge. Also got the green light to share with you the cover.

Here's some bumph about it--quite a bit different than the last non-fiction books, although there's quite a bit of concrete in it!

"Collapsing bridges, Mafia money-men, one strong woman and graft: The Last Bridge tells of people caught up in corruption despite their good intentions.

"Set against the major construction industry scandals of the 2010s in Quebec, The Last Bridge tells the stories of three people caught up in them: Frannie Murray, a structural engineer; her ex-husband Daniel Marcoux who is also an engineer; and Stefano Gentile, a Mafia moneyman. None of them wanted to make the world a worse place, but each got sucked into corruption almost imperceptibly."

The Last Bridge Is on Its Way to Publication!

 Update on The Last Bridge, my next book. Just sent off the final substantive edit of the novel to Susan Fitzgerald, the Dundurn editor who has made some excellent suggestions for changes. Next up: the copy-reading stage, with publication due next spring.

To my pleasant surprise I find there'a lot in the book that is directly related to my recent non-fiction work. Specifically, concrete--done badly or well--plays an important role. Shades of my Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future (University of Regina Press, 2020)!

But, never fear, this one is all story!

Before We Forget Is Officially Launched

It was standing room only at the official launch party, Librarie Paragraphe.  Great fun to see all the friends--and even some people I didn't know!  The following week I was off to the West Coast for some more presentations, and now that  I'm back in Montreal I'm looking forward to being  be part of the line-up at the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.  

 

 

The Last Bridge to Be Published by Dundurn in May 2027!

 Well, I said it would a few days, and even if it was more than that, it was worth waiting for.  The Last Bridge, my 20th book and seventh novel ,will be published in May 2027 by Dundurn.  Yay!

Watch This Space! Good News about Mary's Latest Fiction

 

Mary's signing for the publication of her 20th book, a novel The Last Bridge.  Details in a few days!

Dundurn to Publish Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us through the Next 75 Years

 

Coming in March 2026:

 

Safeguarding collective wisdom is a powerful tool for civilization to overcome the major upheavals ahead.

Climate change, civil unrest, wars: How will we make it through the tough times that loom ahead of us? By remembering, Mary Soderstrom argues.

Our time is the first in history that catastrophe has threatened societies, but, using examples from China, the Roman Empire, and North American Indigenous cultures, Soderstrom shows how memory can lead the way toward the future. Before We Forget examines how memory works in people, and then details how we store our collective memories in libraries and archives, as well as in the vastness of the electronic universe.

In part an entertaining history of knowledge and where we keep it, Before We Forget allays fears and encourages people to develop strategies for safeguarding collective and individual wisdom, which we will need to meet the challenges ahead.

The First Copies Arrive, Great Endorsements Too

 Wednesday the first copies of my new book, Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters arrived.  Most appropriate as storms batter California, destroying beaches and bridges and badly-sited houses.  We are going to have to learn to live with rising waters.  Doing so will require some changes in the way we build our cities and live our lives. 

While the book won't be available in stores until the end of February, it's already received some great endorsements.

T.C. Boyle, author of A Friend of the Earth and the forthcoming Blue Skies: "Against the Seas is a clear-eyed and fascinating look at the central threat our species faces: sea-level rise as a result of climate change."
 

Maude Barlow,  activist and author of Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism. "An incredible read.… While unflinching in her analysis, Soderstrom nevertheless gifts us with a message of hope and resilience." 

Wayne Grady, author of The Quiet Limit of the World: "Soderstrom sets out in clear, detailed terms what has been done (not enough) and, more importantly, what can be done (surprisingly, a lot) to slow down the juggernaut of global warming.

Some Great Reviews for Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future

The reviews for Concrete have been coming in, and they're really exciting.

From Resilience: "Soderstrom wants us to understand the vast scope of the challenge we face in transforming our concrete civilization into something sustainable."

From The Tyee:  "Concrete ... offer a very readable, thoughtful and well-documented account of a material that helps and hurts us in almost equal measure.

Rabble says:  "It is when she shifts from the social and ecological problems to the artistic and social wonders of concrete that her prose shines and her reasons for writing the book are clear. Her more figurative approach to concrete as the, well, concrete embodiment of our dreams and ambitions is passionate and for that reason infectious. Descriptions of Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67, Oscar Niemeyer's buildings in Brasilia, the Grande Arche in Paris and the Golden Dream Bay in Qinhuangdao: these are where Concrete finds its way."

Read an excerpt in Canadian Architect.  They also suggested it as a perfect gift for that materials-geek on your gift list!

Here's a short video about the book, too

 

Now Available: Why Some Places That Are Alike Aren't Alike

In the summer of 1968, in the middle of the American involvement in the Vietnam wars, Mary Soderstrom and her husband  loaded up their VW Beetle and immigrated to Canada so he could accept a job in Montreal.  The contrast between their new home and their old led to a long-running reflection on what makes the countries different, and by extension, what makes States and states who have so much in common that they seem like unidentical twins, continue as separate entities.

            In  Frenemies Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States,  Soderstrom uses decades of study, travel and observation to investigate this conundrum, beginning with the reasons why there were two Vietnams way back then.  The other examples she found are many and varied:

            * New Hampshire--home of "Live free or die" populism--and Vermont--home of Bernie Sanders and his peculiarly American brand of socialism;

            *Two Canadian provinces, red neck Alberta and Saskatchewan, the cradle of Canada's universal health care system;

            *Tunisia and Algeria;

            * Burundi and Rwanda.      

            *Haiti and the Dominican Republic

            *The ancient island realms of Scotland and Ireland 

            *The Indian states of  Kerala and  Tamil Nadu 

            * Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking South America 

            The book ends with consideration of the United States of America and Canada as well as speculation about what brings change to  societies. These include geographic variations, no matter how minimal; colonial history that sometimes depends on the toss of dice half a world away; exposure to the wider world; the traditional place awarded women; the shelter that a language can give; how the people are educated; and migration, both voluntary and involuntary.  All of these have implications for the way polities develop.  They also carry lessons for those who'd like to change the future.